2004
2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday (dominical letterDC) of the Gregorian calendar, the 2004th year of the Common Era(CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 4th year of the 3rd millennium, the 4th year of the 21st century, and the 5th year of the 2000s decade. Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt, killing all 148 aboard. February * February 1 – A hajj stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills 251 pilgrims. * February 4 – Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, is founded by Mark Zuckerberg. * February 7 – Several leaders of Abnaa el-Balad are arrested in Israel. * February 24 – The 6.3 Mw Al Hoceima earthquake strikes northern Morocco with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). At least 628 people are killed. * February 26 ** The United States lifts a 1981 travel ban upon Libya. ** Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. * February 27 ** 2004 SuperFerry 14 bombing: The Abu Sayyaf guerrilla group is blamed for the deadliest terrorist attack at sea in world history, which kills 116 in the Philippines. ** The John Jay Report into Catholic sex abuse cases in the United States has its initial release. * February 28 – Over 1 million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (310 mi) long human chain to commemorate the February 28 Incident in 1947. * February 29 – 2004 Haitian coup d'état: Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as president of Haiti. The chief justice of the Haitian Supreme Court, Boniface Alexandre, is sworn in as interim president. March * March 2 ** NASA announces that the Mars rover MER-B (Opportunity) has confirmed that its landing area was once drenched in water. ** The Iraq Ashura bombings kill at least 178 and injure at least 500 Iraqi Shi'aMuslims commemorating the Day of Ashura. * March 10 – Five British men are released from detention at Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay. After they land at RAF Brize Norton, 4 of them are immediately arrested for questioning. * March 11 – Terrorists execute simultaneous attacks, with bombs in 4 rush-hour trains in Madrid, killing 191 people. * March 17 – A pogrom-like organized violence breaks out over 2 days in Kosovo; 19 people are killed, 8,000 Serbian homes burned, schools and businesses vandalized, and over 300 Orthodox monasteries and churches burned and destroyed. * March 25 – British prime minister Tony Blair visits Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, in return for the dismantling of Libya's weapons of mass destruction programme in December 2003 (the first time a major Western leader had visited the nation in several decades). * March 28 – The first ever reported South Atlantic hurricane makes landfall in southern Brazil in the state of Santa Catarina – the hurricane is dubbed Cyclone Catarina. * March 29 ** The Republic of Ireland bans smoking in all enclosed work places, including restaurants, pubs and bars. ** The largest expansion of NATO to date takes place, allowing Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakiaand Slovenia into the organization. April * April 1 – Google releases Gmail. * April 8 – Darfur conflict: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and 2 rebel groups. * April 12 – Minecraft Kart 2: Minecraft Kart 64 is released in America. * April 17 – Israeli helicopters fire missiles at a convoy of vehicles in the Gaza Strip, killing the Gaza leader of Hamas, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi. * April 20 – In Iraq, 12 mortars are fired on Abu Ghraib Prison by insurgents; 22 detainees are killed and 92 wounded.1 * April 22 – Ryongchon disaster: Two trains carrying explosives and fuel collide in Ryongchon, North Korea, killing 161 people, injuring 1,300 and destroying thousands of homes. * April 24 – Referendums on the Annan Plan for Cyprus, which proposes to re-unite the island, take place in both the Greek-controlled and the Turkish-controlled parts. Although the Turkish Cypriots vote in favour, the Greek Cypriots reject the proposal. May * May 1 – The largest expansion to date of the European Union takes place, extending the Union by 10 member-states: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Malta and Cyprus. * May 9 – Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov is killed by a landmine placed under a VIP stage during a World War II memorial parade in Grozny. * May 12 – An American civilian contractor in Iraq, Nick Berg, is shown being decapitated by a group allegedly linked to al-Qaeda on a web-distributed video. * May 14 – Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, marries Australian Mary Donaldson in Copenhagen. * May 17 – Massachusetts legalizes same-sex marriage, in compliance with a ruling from the state's Supreme Judicial Court (Goodridge v. Department of Public Health). * May 19 – Jeremy Sivits pleads guilty in a court-martial in connection with alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. * May 24 – North Korea bans mobile phones (see Telecommunications in North Korea). * May 26 – Terry Nichols is convicted by an Oklahoma state court on murder charges stemming from the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. June * June 2 - Minecraft Kart 3: Super Circuit is released in Japan. * June 8 – The first transit of Venus since 1882 occurs; the following one occurred in 2012. * June 11 – Terry Nichols is spared the death penalty by an Oklahoma state court on murder charges stemming from the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. * June 12 – A 1.3 kg chondrite type meteorite strikes a house in Ellerslie, New Zealand, causing serious damage but no injuries. * June 21 – In Mojave, California, SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight. * June 28 – The U.S.-led coalition occupying Iraq transfers sovereignty to an Iraqi Interim Government. * June 30 – Preliminary hearings begin in Iraq in the trial of former president Saddam Hussein, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. July * July 1 ** The Cassini–Huygens spacecraft arrives at Saturn. ** Vatican City gains full membership rights in the United Nations except voting. * July 4 ** Groundbreaking for One World Trade Center begins at Ground Zero in New York City. ** The Greek national football team wins the 2004 UEFA European Championship in Portugal. August * August 1 ** A supermarket fire in Asunción, Paraguay, kills about 400 and leaves over 1000 missing. ** A bomb attack occurs in front of Prague's Casino Royal. * August 3 ** The Statue of Liberty reopens after security improvements. ** NASA's MESSENGER is launched (it is captured into Mercury's orbit on March 18, 2011). * August 9 – At the Mihama Nuclear Power Plant, a pipe leaking hot water and steam kills 5 and injures 6 others, in the 2nd worst nuclear disaster in Japan. * August 13–29 – The 2004 Summer Olympics are held in Athens, Greece. The Olympic flame during the Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics * August 22 – Armed robbers steal Edvard Munch's The Scream, Madonna, and other paintings from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway. * August 24 – Two airliners in Russia, carrying a total of 89 passengers, crash within minutes of each other after flying out of Domodedovo International Airport, leaving no survivors. Authorities suspect suicide attacks by rebels from Chechnya to be the cause of the crashes. * August 26 – During the Republican National Convention over 1800 individuals were arrested by the authorities in New York City, USA.2 However 90% of those charges were eventually dropped.2 September * September 1 – Chechen terrorists take 1,128 people hostage, mostly children, in a school in the Beslan school hostage crisis. The hostage-takers demand the release of Chechen rebels imprisoned in neighbouring Ingushetia and the independence of Chechnya from Russia. * September 2 – The United Nations Security Council adopts Resolution 1559, calling for the removal of all foreign troops from Lebanon. This measure is largely aimed at Syrian troops. * September 3 – Russian forces end the siege at a school in Beslan, Northern Ossetia; 334 people are killed and at least 700 people injured. * September 9 – A bomb blast outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, kills 11 and injures up to 100 people. * September 17 ** The 2004 Summer Paralympics commence in Athens, Greece. ** Mexico and Japan finish 2-year-long negotiations and sign a Free Trade Agreement in Mexico City. * September 21 – Construction of the Burj Khalifa begins. * September 29 – In Mojave, California, the first Ansari X Prize flight takes place of SpaceShipOne, which is competing with a number of spacecraft (including Canada's Da Vinci Project, claimed to be its closest rival) and goes on to win the prize on October 4. October * October 8 – Suicide bombers detonate 2 bombs at the Red Sea resort of Taba, Egypt, killing 34 people, mainly Israeli tourists and Egyptian workers. * October 14 – Prince Norodom Sihamoni is chosen as the new king of Cambodia. * October 19 – A team of explorers reaches the bottom of Krubera Cave, world's deepest cave. The depth reached is 2,080 meters (6,824 feet), setting a world record (National Geographic). * October 20 ** The Ubuntu operating system is first released. ** Corporate Airlines Flight 5966 crashes in Missouri, killing 13 people and injuring 2. * October 21 – The Ministry of Defence approves the deployment of the Black Watch regiment of the British Army to Baghdad, Iraq, after a request for assistance by the U.S. government. * October 23 – A magnitude 6.7 earthquake and aftershocks of similar scale occur in the Tokamachi area. A landslide occurs on the outskirts of Nagaoka. According to Japanese officials, 68 people are killed, 4,085 are injured, and 103,000 are rendered homeless. * October 24 – Brazil successfully launches its first rocket into space. * October 26 – The Cassini probe passes within 1,200 km of Titan. * October 27 – Details of the discovery of a new, recent species of fossil hominid, Homo floresiensis, from the island of Flores, Indonesia, are published. * October 29 – European heads of state sign in Rome the Treaty and Final Act, establishing the first European Constitution. November * November 6 – In Ivory Coast, National Army bombings kill 9 people, including French U.N. soldiers. French U.N. forces retaliate by destroying the National Army's air force. * November 7 – U.S. forces launch a major assault on the Iraqi town of Fallujah, in an effort to rid the area of insurgents before the Iraqi elections in January. * November 13 – After six days of intense battles, the Iraqi town of Fallujah is fully occupied by U.S. forces. * November 16 ** The European Space Agency probe SMART-1 passes from Earth orbit into the orbit of the Moon. ** NASA's hypersonic Scramjet breaks a record by reaching a velocity of about 7,000 mph in an unmanned experimental flight. It obtains a speed of Mach 9.6, almost 10 times the speed of sound. * November 22 – The Orange Revolution begins when the government of the Ukraine is accused of electoral fraud against presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko. * November 23 – World of Warcraft was released. * November 28 – A male Poʻouli dies of avian malaria at the Maui Bird Conservation Center in Olinda before it can breed, making the species in all probability extinct. December The tsunami caused by the December 26, 2004 earthquake strikes Ao Nang, Thailand. * December 6 – Terrorists attack the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing several people. * December 8 – Dimebag Darrell, former guitarist for the heavy metal band Pantera, is murdered on stage by a deranged fan while performing with his new band Damageplan. * December 10 – New Zealand bans smoking in all public places, including bars. * December 14 – The world's tallest bridge, the Millau bridge over the River Tarn in the Massif Central mountains, France, is opened by President Jacques Chirac. * December 15 – Albanian terrorists take a bus and its passengers hostage in Athens, Greece, and demand €1 million in ransom money. * December 16 – The House of Lords rules that the British Government breaches human rights legislation, by detaining without trial foreign nationals suspected of being terrorists. * December 21 – Iraqi insurgents attack a U.S. military base in the city of Mosul, killing 22 people. * December 26 – The 9.1–9.3 Mw Indian Ocean earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). One of the largest observed tsunamis follows, affecting coastal areas of Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. The death toll across a number of these nations is 230,000–280,000. * December 27 – Astrophysicists from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching near Munich measure the strongest burst from a magnetar. At 21:30:26 UT the earth is hit by a huge wave front of gamma and X-rays. It is the strongest flux of high-energetic gamma radiation measured so far. * December 30 – A fire in a Buenos Aires night club (República Cromagnon) kills 194 people during a rock concert. * December 31 ** Taipei 101, at the time tallest skyscraper in the world, standing at a height of 1,670 feet (509 metres), officially opens. ** Simón Trinidad, high-profile FARC leader, is extradited to the United States, following the second extradition of a high drug dealer in a month and in 2004. Date unknown * The Russian Federation stops recognizing Soviet Union passports as legal identification.3